This partnership - felt with a remarkable intensity during the difficult days of the war - constitutes a core value on the path towards realizing our goals as a people and a state.

The massive support which our friends and partners throughout the Jewish World and in the State of Israel extended, provided us with the strength to carry on with renewed vigor to fulfill the mission which we undertook to assist the North.  In this manner we absorbed over 40,000 children and youths in day and summer camps in central Israel and kept them away from the threat of murderous missiles.  We were able to ameliorate the living conditions in thousands of shelters by furnishing them with air conditioners, television sets and emergency systems, allowing the hundreds of thousands of northern residents to reside in them for the long duration. These undertakings were systematically conducted in every northern community, Jewish, Arab, Druze, and Circassian alike. Additionally, we provided thousands of adults in the northern region with much needed vacations and invested vast resources in the Arab and Druze sectors by equipping community centers to serve the needs of the residents.

All of this was made possible, because the Jewish World rallied to our side; the forefront of which constituted by the United Jewish Communities of North America (UJC), Keren Hayesod and UIA Canada together with many generous people in Israeli society. The confidence and faith you bestowed upon us was the driving force, guided by the professional and devoted staff of employees, which enabled us to carry out our mission and achieve our goals.

This was also a period of grace for the Jewish Agency, as we repositioned ourselves in the Jewish World and in Israeli society, as a body that functions as a bridge between World Jewry and the Government of Israel, the State of Israel and its citizenry.

In the coming year as before, we will continue to stand beside the North with the assistance of our friends and partners throughout the world and in Israel. We will be there on behalf of small businesses to assist them in their economic development; on behalf of the institutions of higher learning and the students who study there; alongside the families victimized by terror; together with the new immigrants and lone soldiers; on behalf of the residents of the cities and towns throughout the north in order to rehabilitate communal life and their institutions.

This year we will intensify our efforts in our spheres of activity, the first and foremost of which to reinforce our efforts to increase Aliyah to Israel from every corner of the world; we will intensify our activities in the Jewish communities to strengthen Jewish identity and the connection to Israel amongst members of the young generation and we will act within Israeli society to narrow the educational gaps on behalf of at-risk children and youths who were not afforded the equal opportunities they deserve, namely in the areas of national priority - the Galilee, the Negev and Jerusalem.

I extend to you and your families my warm wishes for the New Year. May this be a year of peace for the Jewish people in Israel and throughout the world. Let it be a year of personal and national security.  May it be a year in which we will be fortunate to see our captive sons returned safe and sound to their families.  Let it be a year of unity in our ranks filled with partnership and sense of purpose.  Let it be a year of solidarity, camaraderie and blessings in all our endeavors on behalf of the Jewish people and the State of Israel.

Respectfully Yours,

Zeev Bielski  

zeevik@jafi.org